


Incorrigible

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 21:11:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17815592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: For prompt fill #79: Romance. Using Taviloth and Fluff Alphabet Tropes: Opposites Attract, Kiss Me Because Reasons, Quips & Banter, & Zero Chill Around Each Other. MAN this was fun. :D





	Incorrigible

**Author's Note:**

> For prompt fill #79: Romance. Using Taviloth and Fluff Alphabet Tropes: Opposites Attract, Kiss Me Because Reasons, Quips & Banter, & Zero Chill Around Each Other. MAN this was fun. :D

 

Aloth had warned her this might get boring at times. Far as Tavi was concerned, he’d left off an adjective from that caution: _mind-numbingly_. It wouldn’t have changed her mind; she’d meant what she’d said about staying with him being the important part. It would just have given him the opportunity to say I told you so when she (inevitably) started grousing about wanting some excitement

A breaking point that was rapidly approaching. They’d followed the trail to Medeca two and a half weeks ago, but the city was so massive, searching for the cell themselves would take months. If they found it at all. They’d been forced to settle for surveilling the kith they suspected of being Leaden Key operative and hoping for the best. So far the only results were Aloth finishing five books and learning two new spells in the process, and Tavi carving no fewer than ten new animals. They sat in a line across the center of the table, easy to fidget with while she was eating.

“If someone doesn’t do somethin’ suspicious fuckin’ soon, I’m gonna start advocatin’ burglary,” she commented as she made a space between two cats--one stretching lazily and the other curled around itself--to place number eleven (an antelope, her best yet) in the line up.

“Yes, because getting ourselves arrested is the perfect way to keep our eye on the people we wish to observe,” Aloth said dryly.

“We’ll only get arrested if we get caught,” Tavi retorted, grinning. “You’re real good at bein’ quiet, city slicker, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

A teasing smile curved his lips, even as his gaze stayed fixed out the window.  “You might.”

“Nice, Corfiser. I’m making an effort not to be insulted.” He was right and she knew it, but that didn’t mean she had to just take it. “Least I didn’t ever trip when I was tryin’ to be sneaky.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “No, you just sneeze.”

“That only happened once!”

“As did the tripping.” Aloth straightened, something in the street below catching his attention. “Tavi.”

“What?” She set down knife and wood and hurried over. Animal number twelve could wait. “She finally poke her fuckin’ nose out?”

“More than.” He gestured out the window, and Tavi leaned over his shoulder to look. The elven woman they’d been trying to pin down for a week was hurrying along the street, bright blue cloak and silky blonde braid trailing behind her.

“Fuckin’ finally,” Tavi muttered, brushing a quick kiss against Aloth’s cheek.  “Good eye.”

“That’s a rather easy color to spot,” Aloth shrugged off the compliment. “She stands out.”

“Not so much we wanna let her get away,” Tavi said, already heading for the door.

Aloth didn’t follow. “I’m going to stay here. In case she’s being so obvious on purpose.”

“Thought I was the paranoid one, city slicker,” Tavi teased. “But suit yourself.” If she took time to argue, or even ask what he thought might happen, their lady in blue might get away. And that was a thoroughly unappealing thought after waiting so long to have eyes on her. So Tavi hurried down the steps and out to the street, located their mark--already at the far end--and set a good pace to follow her. Aloth might be perfectly happy to stay in their room with his books for days on end, but Tavi was eternally grateful for the arrival of something to do.

~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~

Medeca’s winding streets worked far more in favor of the hunted than the hunter. Fortunately, Tavi had always enjoyed a challenge, and never more so than after a long stretch of boredom. Keeping pace with her mark without drawing attention fit the bill perfectly. So far the woman hadn’t done anything suspicious, but that had to come eventually, right? Why else would Lady Blue have emerged after laying low for so long?

Aloth’s decision to stay behind still niggled in the back of her head. It was probably a good idea to keep an eye on the house in case someone came by while Lady Blue was out. And it wasn’t like Tavi was some clingy waif who needed her partner with her at all times. So the persistent unease with his choice was confusing and irritating in equal measure. Tavi cursed under her breath as she almost missed Lady Blue ducking down a side street.

_Focus, postenago_ , she scolded herself. You can ask his reasoning when you get back. This is important right now.

But when she rounded the corner, Lady Blue was nowhere to be found. Despite this being an alley with no open doors or market stalls, and a straight shot to the connected thoroughfare on the other end.

“ _Madiccho_ ,” she spat irritably, studying the doors that opened onto the street. Almost all were barred, and none showed evidence of having been used in the last few seconds, so she instead hurried to the far end to check the connected thoroughfare. Nothing. Even if she stood on a crate to get an elevated look, there was no sign of Lady Blue.

_Well, I was right; she **did** do something suspicious,_ Tavi thought wryly as she retraced her steps. _Just didn’t count on that something suspicious being ‘vanish into thin fuckin’ air’._

She looked more closely at the doors on her way back through, but still none of them seemed like it had been used recently. Nothing to do but admit defeat and head back to Aloth. Carve another animal--a fox maybe, it’d been a while since she made a fox--while they waited for another chance.

~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~ 

Between the tailing and the return trip the sun was starting to set when Tavi made it back to the inn. Her first hint things weren’t entirely alright was the lingering odor of burnt hair on the landing in front of her and Aloth’s door. Second was the chunk of wood missing from the doorframe itself.

It was more than enough to have her wary as she opened the door. “Aloth?”

“Everything’s fine,” he called from behind the partition that closeted off the wash basin.

“Yeah, that’s bullshit,” Tavi retorted. He sounded fine, but their room looked like someone had flipped it upside down and righted it in quick succession. “What the fuck happened?”

“Our friend in blue was likely meant as a diversion, for starters,” Aloth said. There was a slosh of water and a resigned sigh before he came around the partition. “Bait we couldn’t resist, as it were. A good move, on their part.”

His words fell on mostly-deaf ears; Tavi’s attention was largely on the purple-black bruise around his eye.. “Allow me to repeat,” she began, crossing the room swiftly and barely sparing a look at the scattered wooden figures as she beelined toward him. “What _the fuck_ happened?!”

“We had visitors, not long after you left to follow our lead,” Aloth replied. He winced but let her run her fingers gingerly over his black eye, reassure herself that’s all it was. “Probably intending to find any records we have of our efforts and destroy them. They clearly were expecting the room to be empty.”

“What’d _that_ buy you, a fuckin’ heartbeat’s worth of surprise?” Tavi muttered, tugging at his shirt to look for more injuries.

“Tavi, I’m fine, I promise,” he smiled, but let her look. “And for some of the things I know, a heartbeat is all I need.”

Tavi smirked, trying to quash the bubbles of concern as she found a couple more greenish-yellow bruises on his shoulder and what looked like a rugburn just above his hip. “I assume you handed them their fuckin’ asses and they decided it wasn’t worth the trouble?”

Aloth chuckled and caught her hands to still their nervous searching. “I would phrase it differently, but in essence, yes.”

She snorted and let her hands hang by his grasp, accepting the wordless reassurance. “Oh, c’mon, city slicker, it’s not gonna kill you to swear a little.”

He raised an eyebrow, thumbs absently rubbing the backs of her hands. “I’m fairly certain you’ve heard me swear before, Tavi. I just, unlike some, prefer to save it for when it’s appropriate.”

“Aloth,” Tavi laughed, shaking her head. “Darling. The entire point of swearin’ is that it _ain’t_ fuckin’ appropriate. But even leavin’ that aside, this feels like a moment that it would be.”

“As you so aptly demonstrated a moment ago-” Aloth deadpanned.

Tavi cut him off with a kiss, not even bothering to free her hands from his. In fact, she used that as leverage to pull him closer. They both leaned into it for a minute before parting.

Aloth raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “What was that for?”

Tavi shrugged, not letting go of his hands. “Reasons. You’re okay, they didn’t get anything but an ass-kickin’, you were a badass, which you _know_ turns me on-”

He kissed her back, releasing one hand so he could cup the back of her neck, fingers sliding just a little into her hair. Her free hand groped for his shirt, finally catching and curling in the loose fabric to hold him close.

“What was that for?” Tavi parroted impishly, breathing hard, when they were done.

“Reasons,” Aloth said, playful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he bit his lower lip. “Namely, you’re incorrigible and I love you.”

“Those are good reasons,” she teased, shaking her other hand free to loosely wrap her arms around his neck. “And I love you, too.” She looked around at the room again. “I say we take the rest of the night off from hunting Keys, get this place sort of back together, and then just relax. Sit on the balcony and look at the fuckin’ stars or somethin’.”

Aloth settled his hands on her hips. “That is a very tempting plan, but-”

Tavi pressed a finger to his lips. “No buts, city slicker. If they do anything tonight, they’re gonna be real fuckin’ wary so there’s no point in tryin’ to catch them. And we’ve been workin’ for almost three weeks solid, we need a break.”

“Has anyone ever told you” --he slid his hands around to clasp behind her back-- “how persuasive you can be?”

She grinned. “They usually call it _overbearing_ or _stubborn_.” 

“...You can be both of those,” Aloth conceded, half smiling. “I love you anyway.”

Tavi snorted. “Generous of you.”

“I think I love you because of the stubbornness,” he clarified, ‘not in spite of it. Most of the time it’s born of confidence or compassion, or both, and not inherently _wrong_.”

She raised an eyebrow teasingly. “And you’re not biased at all.”

He shrugged and gave her a mischievous look. “I did say _mostly_.”

She laughed. “Ah, so occasionally it’s just me being mule-headed.”

“Very descriptive,” Aloth said dryly. He didn’t deny it, she noticed. Not that he should; it was true. “If you’re set on straightening up and staying in, shouldn’t we get started?”

“Right, the sooner we finish with that, the sooner we can get to the fun part.” Tavi smirked, letting her fingers trail against his skin as she unclasped her hands and stepped back.

Aloth shook his head but smiled. “You are _incorrigible_.”

“Hey, I just meant relaxin’ with the man I love,” Tavi said innocently, kneeling to collect the whittled figurines that had scattered off the table. “But if you wanna do more than that, I ain’t gonna say _no_.”

There was no better reply to that than an eyeroll, which was exactly how Aloth responded.

Tavi grinned, then frowned when she saw a couple of the animals had been damaged--one of the cats had lost its tail, and the stelgaer’s front leg was cracked. _Oh, well, an excuse to make more..._  “So what  was it you were doin’ when I got back?” she asked idly, checking over each animal as she picked it up, now that she knew there were casualties.

“Oh, one of them bled on my shirt,” Aloth replied, sounding annoyed, as he set a stack of books on the dresser. “Since it was a favorite, I was trying to get the stains out before they set.”

“From your tone, I’m gonna guess you weren’t successful?” Damn, both the hare’s ears were chipped. She was really starting to hate these _bazzos_ now. When Aloth nodded a confirmation, she huffed her bangs out of her eyes before asking, “Where’d he bleed?”

“Almost the entire length of one sleeve; I was in the middle of casting a spell.”

“Well, good thing sleeve are bullshit, then, huh?” Tavi hinted, shooting him a meaningful look.

Aloth shook his head, but his lips twitched in a fond smile as he repeated,  “Incorrigible.”

“And you love it,” she grinned, relieved when the next several figurines were undamaged.

“That I do,” he conceded, crisscrossing the room after scattered papers.

The rest of the cleanup passed with a mixed of comfortable silence and easy banter. It was dark out by the time they were satisfied and stopped to have dinner. As per Tavi’s suggestion, they ate out on their balcony where they could see the stars and very deliberately did not look at the house they had been watching once. (Tavi enjoyed the thought maybe the Key operatives thought they were doing something and were going to annoying lengths to be careful. _If we can’t catch you right now, at least we can inconvenience you._ )

It was a very nice, quiet evening. Boring, some might call it. But despite her predilection for excitement, Tavi had to admit: sometimes boring had its merits.


End file.
